We drove from Havana early in the morning. The roads were surprisingly good. Although there were horses, chickens, goats and big potholes on the Autopista Nacional, the trip went much better than the rumours suggested. After just over 200 kilometres we were able to check in at Villa Playa Girón. This was a two-star all-inclusive hotel where we were accommodated in a barrack-like bungalow that stood on a straight line with many others on a field in front of the hotel.
Cuba was, and still is a fairly poor country – so what a two-star all-inclusive hotel could offer for $20 a night was a bit unclear. However, we had not chosen the place because of comfort, but because of the stories the area could offer. Playa Girón or Bay of Pigs became world famous in 1961 when Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro´s Cuban Revolution tried a landing operation on this beach. The operation was covertly financed and directed by the US government. The short story is that the operation failed completely. In addition to the horrors all armed conflicts include, the longer version of the story also includes many surprising and strange events. For example, the US attacked with planes camouflaged as Cuban planes, and thus were not as attentive when real Cuban planes counterattacked. Or when the US had to pay US$53 million for food, lodging and medical treatment to get 1,113 prisoners of war back. There are many such stories of victory in Cuba.
Cubans are the most hospitable people I have ever met. They will share what they have. The hotel did not have wine, beer or mineral water on the menu, but they had agua. You could not choose dinner from a varied menu, but they shared what they had prepared. We took a tray and got food at the end of the queue. And it was a delicious meal!
After dinner we went back to the room to fetch a bottle of wine we bought in Havana and went down to the beach to enjoy the sunset, a glass of wine and a couple of Cohiba espléndidos. Surprisingly, there was no one else on the beach as the sun was about to set. The sea was completely calm and flat, and no boats were to be seen. As the sun sank, it lit up invisible clouds on the horizon as if it were on fire and calling for help. The sun took the sea and the sky with it in an orgy of colours as it disappeared below the horizon far out in the sea.
Even though it suddenly became pitch black, we still sat and looked out over the sea towards where the horizon had disappeared. The sandy beach was still warm, and the only source of light came from the glow of the cigar. It was completely windless and only the faint lapping of waves could be heard. We sat there and just enjoyed the darkness, the silence, the cigar and sipping wine. The palm trees also used the darkness to stretch themselves a little and moved around as trees and bushes do in the dark. I have experienced this several times on observation posts in the military. But I had never experienced them whispering words to each other before. It was just the two of us on the beach as the sun went down, so it took a while to figure out where the whispering was coming from. It came from out there in the water. Now I saw five or six silhouettes coming slowly out of the water towards the beach. They were holding something between them. One of the shadows had now become aware of us and slowly came out of the water in our direction. –Hola, he tentatively whispered. -Hola answered my girlfriend. He said something in Spanish and my girlfriend answered. They had a short conversation and he seemed very reassured by her answers. –Do we want freshly boiled lobster for breakfast, she asked me. Naturally, we wanted freshly boiled lobster for breakfast! They were lobster fishermen who had illegally entered the hotel property inside the giant breakwater wall someone had built so that the hotel would have a quiet bay for its guests. The lobster also thrived there; it turned out.
The next morning, we dropped by the canteen to see what they could offer for breakfast – and it wasn’t much. We took coffee and water to go and strolled down to the beach. Our friend from last night was already there and served up a freshly cooked lobster for each of us, complete with plátano chips. We sat there on the beach looking out over the ocean, just enjoying the silence of the morning and the best lobster ever.
Right then and there we realized what all-inclusive was.
Billy Bronco is telling you 